Copying-press.



No. 656,3|3.` Pamnted Aug, 2|, |900. L.. BAILEY.`

CUPYING' PRESS. mamn med sept. 2e, 1899.)

Udo Model.)

me wams versus cc. Haro-UmmwAs aaaaaaaaaa c.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEONARD BAILEY, OF W'E'llI-IERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT.

`COPYING-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming paltof Letters Patent NO. 656,313, dated August 21 1900.

` Application filed September Z6, 1899. Serial No. 731,709- (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may colocar.'

Be it known that I, LEONARD "BAILEY, of

Wethersfield, I-Iartfordcounty, in the State of Connecticut, have i nventedA `certain new and useful Improvements in Copying- Presses, which improvements are described in the fol# lowing specification andare illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that class of screwpresses which are commonly used in the operation of copying letters and other written or printed documents, and are characterizedby a iiat base or bed-plate on which the work may be laid, a platen which has a flat face parallel with the base, an arch which rises from the base and straddles the platen, anda screw which turnsin the arch and moves the platen toward and from the base. In presses of this kind as constructed before the present invention was made the arch has commonly been vformed of several pieces holted together and to the base, and consequently the frame of the press, consisting of an unnecessarilydarge number of parts, has sometimes been lacking in rigidity, and has sometimes worked apart; also, the screw being single and of suicient pitch for the rapid driving of the platen hasbeen liable to be turned backward by the reaction or upward thrust of the work against the platen. In litting the parts of the frame together the base has often been weakened by planing the scale from its upper face, and the entire structure has been wanting in compactness by reason of the location of the hand-wheel and a portion of screw above the arch. To obviate all these inconveniences, which is the object of this invention, I make use of a base which is formed integrally with the arch, a right-andleft screw which turns in the arch without working through it, and a hand-wheel which ismade fast upon the screw between the arch and the platen and engages the latter by an intermediate nut bolted to the platen.

The best manner in which I have contemplated applying the principles of my invention is shown in the drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of a copyingpress constructed in accordance with those principles and containing a letter-book in position for pressing. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section of the same press.

In the views the numeral l denotes the base of the press, which is a dat metallic bed-plate resting in a horizontal position and having a general rectangular form and a smooth upper surface. The arch spanning this base consists of two vertical legs 2 and the horizontal crown vor cross-piece 3. The arch so constructed and the base being both cast in one piecefform for the press a rigid frame `by the numeral 8 and is provided with a hand-wheel 9, which is made fast to the screw midway of its length. The terminal portions of the screw above and below the hand-wheel are threaded, respectively, in opposite directions, but are of uniform size and pitch. The upper end of the screw works in the arch-hole 5, which is provided with an appropriate internal screw-thread for that purpose, while the lower end of the same works in a nut 10, which is rigidly attached to the middle of the platen. To accommodate the described right-and-left screw, the nut lO and the female screw 5 are threaded in opposite directions, respectively. In assembling the press the screw is inserted in hole 5 and screwed up till stopped by the contact of the hand-wheel with the bottom of the crown 3. The nut 10, being placed on the lower terminal portion of the screw, is turned up until stopped by the hand-wheel. Then by the turning of the hand-wheel the nut is carried down without rotation to a convenient position for attachment to the platen in the position shown and stated. To this method of assembling the press it is essential that nut l0 should be originally separate from the platen 6, in view of the entirety of the frame l 2 3, as described. In the construction of a copying-press in this manner the number of parts and operations employed IOO :is much reduced, as between the parts of the frame neither fitting nor squaring is required. The base is not weakened by planing oft the scale. As the frame is entire, it has unfailing rigidity, and its parts never work loose. As the screw and the handwheel are located between the arch and the platen, the form of the structure is compact and convenient, and as the pitch of the screw is less than would be required if the screw were single the wheel'is never driven backward by the reactionary thrust of the work -against the platen when the press is in use.

The unity of the invention is obvious, for the use of a compound screw, as described,

not only permits the screw and the hand-3 wheel t0 be located betweenthe arch and the l platen in the interest of compactness and` convenience of form, but also makes it pos- .sible to obtain a rapid movement of the platen without V,excessive pitch ofthe screw-thread and without any danger that the reaction .of the work against the platen willl turn the screw loose; but in connection with such a screw it is desirable that the frame should he entire in order that 'it may possess the,y necessary firmness and rigidity, and because the frame is entire it is necessary, as above explained, .that the female screw, carried by the platen, .should be a nut separately constructed, but Ajoinedto the platen in the assembling of the press.

Such being the construction and operation of my improved copying-press, I claim as my invention- In a copying-press, a fiat and horizontal base, a horizontal arch, having a central vertical hole with internal screw-thread, and mounted over such base by means of two vertical. legs, all being a rigid frame, of a single piece of metal, a horizontal platen, which is movable toward and from the base between `the legs of the arch as guides, and a right- 

